There are several theoretically attractive incentives to anisotropic MR imaging. For example, SNR may be improved if data collection is limited to the field of view of interest. In addition, data may be obtained faster than in isotropic imaging since it is theoretically possible to vary readout duration in response to a limited covering of k-space necessary to allow for anisotropic reconstruction. Furthermore, anisotropic acquisition and reconstruction techniques, together with slice selective imaging is a novel approach to MR imaging. It is believed that this approach will have many useful applications.